Yarn-traversing device



Feb. 22, 1944. J. P. MACKIE 2,342,353

YARN-TRAVERSING DEVICE Filed Feb. 16. 1943 Inventor A Harney,

Patented Feb. 22, 1944 YARN-TRAVERSING DEVICE John Pringle Mackie, Belfast, Northern Ireland, assigner to James Mackie & Sons Limited, Bel fast, Northern Ireland, a British company Application February 16, 1943, serial No. 476,102` e In Great Britain February 20, 1942 2 Claims. (Cl. 242-43) This invention relates to machines for Winding yarn. Various suggestions have been made for eiiecting the traverse of the yarn by rollers with double helical grooves in their surfaces and with' particular means `for guiding the yarn at the crossing points of the helices. It has also been suggested to feed the yarn from a guide offset to one side or end of the grooved roller and to use a single helical groove for traversing the yarn from that side toward the other, relying on the lateral pull from the offset guide to effect the return of the yarn to the starting point. In one British specification dealing with a proposal of this type, No. 529,150, a helical series of disconnected notches or recesses Was provided in the roller between the turns of the continuous helix for assisting in the control of the return of the yarn under the pull from the offset guide.

According to the present invention the yarn is guided from a position near the centre toward either end of the traverse by a grooved roller with oppositely directed helices on its two end portions, which' helices may overlap a little at the centre but do not cross one another. The traverse of the yarn toward the two ends is effected by the two helical grooves, while the return toward the mid-position is eiected by the lateral pull of the yarn from the yarn guide, and this suiiices to bring back the yarn to the point at which th'e helical groove for transferring it to the opposite end of the roll begins.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan view showing diagrammatically the arrangement of the Winder for winding a cylindrical roll or cheese of yarn;

Figure 2 is a development of the surface of the grooved roller shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 illustrating the winding of a cop.

Referring rst to Figure 1, the yarn is led .from a supply source to a yarn guide B, and past a fixed nger or abutment 'I to the surface of the winding roller 8 which' runs in contact with the roll of yarn 9 being wound. The surface of the roller 8 is formed with two oppositely directed helices I and II each extending from near the centre toward one end of the roller, but so that they do not cross one another. The groove I0 terminates in a broadened end I2 near the centre of the roller, and the groove II has a similar broadened end I3 which' overlaps the end I2 to some extent. The other ends of the grooves terminate in short return tracks It and I5 which are just sufcient to Vstart the return traverse of the yarn from each end.

It will be seen that the guide eye t is displaced a little toward the left, say 5A; oi an inch from the centre line, while the finger or abutment 'I is similarly displaced but to a less extent, say -1/4 inch from the centre line. Th'e effect ci the fin-- ger 'I is to impart a pull to the yarn at the start of the reversal at the left hand end, equivalent to that of a guide eye displaced toward the right from the centre line, while when the direction of winding of the yarn is being reversed from the right hand end the pull is direct from the guide eye as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1. The finger 'I thus serves to equalise the rate of traverse of the yarn, making the angle of the yarn from the end of the roller at the start of the reverse winding approximately the same as if the guide eye were oiset toward the opposite side. The end I3 of groove Ii eX- tends past the centre line toward th'e saine side as that to which the guide eye 5 is offset, while the end I2 of groove I0 extends substantially up to the centre line but not beyond it in this case.

As the yarn is wound it is carried out say toward the left hand end by engagement in groove I0 until it is reversed at the end I4. Then the pull of the yarn from the guide eye 6 and round the nger 1 serves to cause the return traverse of the yarn toward the centre line, but just before the centre line is reached the yarn catches in the broad end I3 of groove Il and is carried out toward the right hand end of the roller. At this end the reverse bend I5 in the groove II starts the return traverse of the yarn, and the direct pull of the yarn from the guide eye 6 completes the traverse toward the centre. This pull suioes to bring the yarn back far enough to cause it to drop into the broad end I2 of the groove I0 and so the traverse repeats itself as the roll 9 is wound. The finger 1 is about 21/2 to 3 inches nearer the roller 8 than the guide eye 6 in the example shown but considerable variation is possible in the relative positions of the guide eye 6, finger 'I and roller 8 while attaining the desired result.

In the example shown the roll of yarn 9 is driven by contact with the grooved roller 8 but it may of course be separately driven. The same form of grooved roller 8 may be used for Winding yarn on the tapered ends of cops and the like, as indicated for example in Figure 3, in which it is assumed that the cop I6 is separately driven.

In the gaps between the helices I0 and Il one or more disconnected notches may be provided like those of British patent specification No. 529,150 if desired to assist in the return traverse of the yarn, but this is not found to be necessary in practice.

If the ends of the helical grooves l0 and Il can be arranged to overlap sufciently at the middle of the roller a centrally disposed guide eye 6 can be used, but it is generally easier to secure the desired result if one of the grooves extends a little past the centre of the roller as illus trated, and if the guide eye 6 is displaced a little toward that side of the traverse path as abovev described. The depths of the grooves may vary toward the ends, particularly toward the inner end of each where it is broadened to assist in picking up the yarn for traversing it toward the outer end of its path.

I claim:

1. A yarn traversing device for winding machines comprising a roller having two oppositely disposed helical grooves in its surface extending from about the middle of the roller toward 0pposite ends thereof, the adjacent inner ends of said grooves being widened and disposed to overlap on one side of the centre of theroller but Without intersection, in combination with a yarn guide offset a short distance from a plane through the centre of the roller toward that side at which said groove ends overlap one another, and additional yarn guiding means adapted to make more acute the angle between the line of travel of the yarn and the surface of said roller while the yarn is being traversed over the portion only of said roller embraced by one of said helical grooves.

2. A yarn traversing device for Winding machines comprising a roller having two oppositely disposed helical grooves in its surface extending from a bout the middle of the roller toward opposite ends thereof, the adjacent inner ends of said grooves being disposed to overlap on one side of thecentre of the roller but with intersection, in combination with a yarn guide offset a short distance from a plane through the centre of the roller toward that side at which said groove ends overlap one another, and an abutment between said yarn guidev and the roller adapted to deect the path of the yarn from the yarn guide toward one end of the roller while not aecting the path of the yarn toward the other end of said roller.

J OHN Y PRIN GLE MACKIE. 

